Moss will cede crown as Loganville’s top athlete

Brandon Moss isn’t bragging when he says he’s probably the most accomplished professional athlete ever to come from Loganville, GA.

“It’s just not that big a place,’’ Moss said. The 2009 census had it with a population of just under 11,000.

Moss said that ranking is temporary. According to Baseball America rankings, two of the top five players eligible for the baseball draft come from Loganville, Clint Frazier and Austin Meadows.

The A’s first baseman doesn’t know Meadows, but he’s known Frazier for five years, and he sees nothing but stardom for the product of Loganville High (Meadows goes to nearby Grayson High).

“I’ve been hitting with him since he was in eighth grade,’’ Moss said of Frazier, “and he’s got the fastest hands I’ve ever seen. He had more pop in eighth grade than I’ve ever had.’’

This is from a player who hit 21 homers for the A’s last year and who has seven more this season even while being in a slump.

“He’s very raw,’’ Moss said in assessing Frazier, a center fielder in high school who is likely to be a corner outfielder as a professional. “When he’s hitting, nothing he does looks smooth. But when he makes contact, everything explodes.

“I don’t know Austin, but from what I’ve heard, he’s the exact opposite, that everything is very smooth.’’

There seems no chance that either Loganville player will make it to the A’s. Oakland picks 24th, and as highly rated as Frazier and Meadows are, there’s no way all 23 of the teams in front of them will pass.

Moss would love to see Frazier join the Oakland organization, however.

“I remember once I was swinging a 34 (ounce), 32 (inch) bat and he asked to swing it,’’ Moss said. “He’d been hitting with metal bats, which are much lighter. He picked up the wood bat and he was hitting it as far as I was.’’